Justice Insider: Small matter in feud leads to homicide

A July 15 homicide might have been over nothing more than a cigarette and a couple of bucks.

Jeb Phillips, The Columbus Dispatch

A July 15 homicide might have been over nothing more than a cigarette and a couple of bucks.

Christopher J. Smith, 25, was gunned down early that morning on the East Side. A 51-year-old man, Michael D. Tigney, turned himself in soon after the shooting and confessed, authorities said.

According to an affidavit for a search warrant filed in Franklin County Municipal Court, Tigney told Columbus police detectives that he and Smith had a feud and that Smith had even pulled a gun on him a few times in the weeks leading to the shooting.

The last straw came when Smith asked Tigney for a cigarette and $2, Tigney told police. Tigney didn’t have them. Smith began shooting. Tigney said he fired back and killed Smith.

“Mr. Tigney is claiming self-defense, but there is no evidence to support his statement,” detectives wrote in the affidavit.

He has been charged with murder.

• • •

A fight about something just as inconsequential prompted a call to Columbus police on Thursday, but the weapon involved wasn’t as deadly.

Two men in line for a free meal at 240 S. 5th St. Downtown got into a heated argument over the end date for the Ohio State Fair. One said it was Aug. 4 (which happens to be correct).

The other said Aug. 17 and was so insistent that he was right that “nobody can contest him,” according to a police report.

A little later, the Aug. 17 proponent chest-bumped the other man while holding a toothpick. Mr. Aug. 4 was concerned that he was going to be poked, so he backed off and called police.

No one was injured.

• • •

A report came in to Columbus police about 12:40 p.m. Wednesday saying that someone had seen a body near Karl Road and Elmore Avenue on the North Side.

Dispatch reporters who can hear the newsroom’s police and fire scanners always perk up with that kind of call. Are we going to need to drive out to report on yet another homicide?

An officer went to check it out and then reported back to the police radio room.

“He’s not 10-18. More like 10-19,” the officer said.

10-18 is police code for “dead on arrival.” 10-19 is code for “intoxicated person.”

Dispatch Reporter Allison Manning contributed to this report.

jeb.phillips@dispatch.com

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